NORTHAMPTON, MA – The Library of Congress has announced that the highly successful program run by the Collaborative for Educational Services (CES), Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS), has been awarded a $201,000 grant, renewable for three years.

“Every student deserves a high-quality education and this program is helping to enrich the education Massachusetts students receive by encouraging more teachers to use primary sources,” Congressman Jim McGovern (MA-02) said. “It’s exciting to see these resources coming to Massachusetts classrooms and helping to connect today’s lessons with our state and country’s history. I look forward to all the good work that this grant will do as the Collaborative with Educational Services and Teaching with Primary Sources work together with our local schools to help more of our students reach their full potential.”

In 2010, CES joined the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Consortium, partnering with UMass/Amherst, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Boston Public Schools to develop and deliver extensive professional development to teachers about using primary sources in the classroom. More than 1,500 teachers have completed TPS courses; and teachers have also taken advantage of vital online resources featured at www.emergingamerica.org, including lessons, teaching tools, and interactive exhibits. The program has always had a central focus on access for struggling learners. This grant recognizes the work that the program has completed over the last six years, and allows for growth that continues that focus and expands the program’s reach nationwide.

The work that currently provides teaching strategies for Special Education teachers will be expanded to incorporate sections on History of Disabilities and use of multimedia sources. In addition, History of Immigration and Foreign Language Communities education will be expanded for teachers of English Language Learners (ELL), and will include oral histories and legislative documents from Congress.gov.

The grant also provides funding for the program to grow beyond New England. As part of this work, CES will create and share tested resources, and develop training of trainers to extend face-to-face and online course work within other states to provide professional development for educators working with struggling learners with inquiry-based learning through primary sources. CES will work with partners in other states who bring deep expertise to the areas of Special Education, ELL and History Education.

Rich Cairn, Project Director of the TPS program, has designed and led professional development for thousands of teachers across the country, and has led the Teaching with Primary Sources program for the last six years. In speaking of the award, Cairn said; “Students get to work with a variety of digitized historical source materials – maps, photos, sound and video recording, and the like – to figure out their interpretations of historical events.”